Dessert

Let me start by saying that there's no substitute for assembling and eating real-deal s'mores by an open fire on a summer evening. Now that we have that out of the way, let me introduce you to the second-best way to enjoy s'mores this summer: this s'mores slab pie.

I am not quite sure when the last time I baked a pie was. It's not that I don't enjoy the occasional slice, but ever since galettes walked into my life roughly nine years ago, I've never looked back.

I distinctly remember the first day our love blossomed. The final project for one of my culinary courses in college was to develop a menu that would compete with my classmates' menu to be served at a graduation luncheon for my department. I dove deep into the task and scoured cookbooks and the internet to build a menu I thought would wow. Never having heard of galettes before then, I stumbled upon a few recipes for them that sounded delicious, and put them at the center of my menu. I won that little competition. My whole class cooked that menu for the luncheon, and I've been wooed by galettes ever since. Their lack of fuss made me a believer then and it continues to make me a believer now. I want to make you a believer too.

Of all the iconic cookies — chocolate chip, sugar, snickerdoodle — a really reliable, chewy peanut butter cookie has always eluded me. Some recipes bake up a tender, crisp cookie or a snappy cookie, and there are those recipes that call themselves chewy, but end up soft after storing.

My quest wasn't just for any peanut butter cookie, but a thick and soft peanut butter cookie that bent rather than broke when folded in two, all while delivering on the savory sweetness of the peanut butter itself. This cookie finally delivers that with an added bonus of being chock-full of peanuts and peanut butter chips, making it just the kind of cookie you want to eat with a glass of cold milk or a tumbler of Scotch.

I'll never forget the day in second grade when my mom showed up with two giant sheet pans of homemade cinnamon rolls. It was my birthday, and this was her surprise to me — a special treat to share with the whole class. I was genuinely surprised. And also a smidge disappointed that she hadn't shown up with trays of store-bought cupcakes sporting thick swirls of frosting and plastic toppers that said, "YOU'RE RAD!" like the cool kids had brought in on their birthdays. (In addition to my reading and spelling skills in second grade, I was also proficient at ingratitude.)

Needless to say, everybody went gaga over the cinnamon rolls and, thankfully, my class showed all of the appreciation for my mother's efforts that I lacked.

This is your friendly Public Service Announcement reminding you to get your fill of sweet, fruit-filled desserts before summer is over. Not only does the season's bounty of stone fruits and berries lend itself to a packed roster of sweet treats, but so many of them are also easy enough to pull together on a weeknight. That's my kind of baking. From classic fruit crisps to rustic galettes to upside-down skillet cakes, here are 10 must-bake summer fruit desserts easy enough for a weeknight.

At Hot Cakes Molten Chocolate Cakery, the Seattle shop famous for deceivingly small chocolate cakes baked to order, it's easy to be sidetracked by the main event. When you're waiting in line — because yes, you'll probably have to wait — the scent of chocolate hovers overhead like a heavy cloud. It's easy to imagine that at any moment, the cloud will burst and Seattle's rain will turn into hot, thick chocolate. But curb your imagination: You need to focus not just on the cakes, but also on the milkshakes, which come both straight-up and laced with (usually local) booze. Our favorite, the "Extra Dark Caramel and Rye" shake, is made with the rye caramel they make in house.